Defining Planning Application Activity Rules

You define planning application activity rules for each activity in an activity group to track and manage tasks based on important due dates.

The rules are based on events that occur during the planning application lifecycle—which include when the application is received, application acceptance, the hearing schedule, and the hearing decision—and determine how the activity due dates are calculated.

Activity Rule Example

Let’s take a look at an example. First, the agency sets up a reusable activity City Clerk Publishes Final Packet, which can be part of multiple agency groups. This activity reminds the planning application staff to publish the final packet before the public hearing. After the activity is assigned to an activity group, the agency defines the rules for tracking the activity. In this example, the activity is related to the hearing, based on the City Council hearing date. That is, the City Council hearing date is the base date and activities may be due before or after. Here the task is due 7 days before the hearing date, and if the hearing is canceled or rescheduled, agency staff can repeat the activity with a new base date.

This Activity Group Details – Activity drawer illustrated here is described in the surrounding text.

When the hearing with the City Council is scheduled, the activity based on the rule is inserted into the activity tracking list for the planning application as shown here.

The due date for the activity is calculated to be 7 days before the hearing date. If the hearing date in this example is 10/21/20 then the activity is due 10/14/20.

Notice how the activity or activities with same base date in the group are activated on the application’s activity tracking page. That is, all of the activities associated with the hearing base date appear in the list when the hearing date is scheduled.

Defining Activity Rules

Here’s how to define activity rules that are used to determine due dates of tasks:

In the Functional Setup Manager, select Setup: Public Sector Planning and Zoning > Functional Area: System Administration > Task: Manage Activity Groups.
On the Activity Group page, select the row with the activity group that you want to add activities to.
Click the Add button in the Activity section on the Activity Group Details page.
On the Activity page, select an activity from the reusable activities you set up in the first step of due date tracking setup. For more information, see Setting Up Activities.
The activity name and description are displayed once you select an activity.

Next select the base date for calculating due dates, when the event in the application time line occurs. Choose one of the following from the Base Date drop-down list:

Base Date	Description	Fields Displayed
Received date	Calculates the activity due date based on the date the agency receives the planning application.	Number of Days Type Exclude in Due Date Calculation Due Date Adjustment Allow Resubmission Enabled Allow Public Comments
Acceptance date	Calculates the activity due date based on the date the agency accepts the planning application.	Number of Days Type Exclude in Due Date Calculation Due Date Adjustment Enabled Allow Public Comments
Hearing date	Calculates the activity due date based on the scheduled hearing date for a selected hearing body.	Hearing Body Number of Days Type Exclude in Due Date Calculation Due Date Adjustment Redo Activity with New Base Date Enabled Allow Public Comments
Hearing decision date	Calculates the activity due date based on the date a selected hearing body records a specified decision.	Hearing Body Hearing Decision Number of Days Type Exclude in Due Date Calculation Due Date Adjustment Redo Activity with New Base Date Enabled Allow Public Comments
None	No application event is used to calculate the activity due date. Use this option for activities that don’t require a calculated due date based on a planning application milestone.	Enabled Allow Public Comments When you select None as the base date, the due date calculation fields aren’t displayed.

The Hearing Body field is required for Hearing date and Hearing decision date base dates. The Hearing Decision field is required only for the Hearing decision date base date.

Enter values for each base date option like this. Select None for the Base Date when the activity doesn’t require a due date calculation based on an application event.

Page Element	Applies to Base Date	Description
Hearing Body	Hearing date Hearing decision date	Select the hearing body associated with the hearing or decision. This field is required for hearing-based activity rules.
Hearing Decision	Hearing decision date	Select the hearing decision that triggers the activity rule. This field is required when the base date is Hearing decision date.
Number of Days	Received date Acceptance date Hearing date Hearing decision date	Enter the number of days used to calculate the activity due date. This field is required for calculated base dates.
Type	Received date Acceptance date Hearing date Hearing decision date	Select whether the activity due date is calculated as a number of days before or after the selected base date. The Allow Public Comments switch is available only when the type is Days after base date.
Exclude in Due Date Calculation	Received date Acceptance date Hearing date Hearing decision date	Select whether to exclude holidays, weekends, both holidays and weekends, or no days from the due date calculation.
Due Date Adjustment	Received date Acceptance date Hearing date Hearing decision date	Select whether to adjust a calculated due date that falls on a nonworking day. Options include no adjustment, adjustment to the prior working day, or adjustment to the next working day.
Allow Resubmission	Received date	Turn on this switch when the activity rule should account for application resubmission as part of the received-date activity cycle.
Redo Activity with New Base Date	Hearing date Hearing decision date	Turn on this switch to create a new activity row when the base date changes, such as when a hearing is rescheduled or a new qualifying hearing decision is recorded.
Enabled	All	Turn on this switch when the activity rule is ready to use. You can turn off the switch to disable the activity rule but you can’t delete an activity rule if the activity group is in use.
Allow Public Comments	Received date, Acceptance date, Hearing date, Hearing decision date when Type is Days after base date Also available when the Base Date is None	Turn on this switch to allow the activity to be used for public comment periods. For calculated base dates, this switch is available only when the activity type is Days after base date.

For example, if an activity deadline is 30 days after the application acceptance date, enter 30 in the Number of Days field and select Days after base date in the Type field. You can also indicate whether the due date is prior to the base date by selecting Days before base date.

Click Save.